Apple Dictation

by Apple

Built-in OS dictation across iOS, iPadOS, and macOS.

TL;DR

Built-in OS dictation across iOS, iPadOS, and macOS.

Best for apple users wanting free system-level dictation in any text field. Pricing: free · built into OS.

Category
Products
License
—
Stars
—
Last push
—
Pricing
free · built into OS
Platforms
macOS, iOS, iPadOS

What it is

Apple Dictation is the built-in dictation feature on iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. Now on-device on M-series Macs and newer iPhones for privacy.

Best for: Apple users wanting free system-level dictation in any text field.
Watch out for: Accuracy below professional dictation products; on-device on supported devices.

Install / use

support.apple.com — built in

Features

Speaker diarizationNo
Word-level timestampsNo
Streaming / real-timeNo
Languages supported40
HIPAA eligibleNo

Apple Dictation vs Whipscribe

FeatureApple DictationWhipscribe
CategoryProductsTranscription APIs
Pricingfree · built into OSfree beta
Speaker diarization—Yes
Word timestamps—Yes
Streaming—No
Languages4099
PlatformsmacOS, iOS, iPadOSWeb, API, MCP

Alternatives to Apple Dictation

Otter.ai
Otter.ai

Meeting-bot transcription product for Zoom/Meet/Teams.

free / from $10/mo
Rev
Rev

Human + AI transcription, highest accuracy tier on the market.

AI from $0.25/min · human from $1.50/min
Descript
Descript

Audio/video editor that treats the transcript as the timeline — different product category.

free / from $12/mo

Whipscribe is a managed faster-whisper + whisperX service. If you want transcripts without running infrastructure, paste a URL or drop a file in the form below — you'll have a transcript in seconds.